Tag Archives: Kenyan Runners

Kenya news outlets are reporting that Kenyan police have charged the world’s 3,000m steeplechase champion, Ezekiel Kemboi, with assault after a woman said he stabbed her on Wednesday night.

The woman alleges that the athlete attacked her when she declined his sexual advances.

Mr Kemboi denied the allegations, saying she colluded with thugs to rob him and was injured in the skirmish. The magistrate granted the athlete bail and said he would be allowed to travel to London to compete in the Olympics.

At least we can now look forward to Kemboi doing his victory dance in London.

Kenyan runners have been the dominant force in middle- and long-distance running events for more than 40 years. Several books have been published to try and explain their secret. The books on Kenyan runners focus on their training, diet, lifestyle and genes.

Books on Kenyan Runners.

The following books have been written and published. They are all available from Amazon online book store.

Running with the Kenyans: Passion, Adventure, and the Secrets of the Fastest People on Earth

Whether running is your recreation, your religion, or just a spectator sport, Adharanand Finn’s incredible journey to the elite training camps of Kenya will captivate and inspire you. Part travelogue, part memoir, this mesmerizing quest to uncover the

secrets of the world’s greatest runners—and put them to the test—combines practical advice, a fresh look at barefoot running, and hard-won spiritual insights. Available in hard cover and Kindle version at Amazon Books
.

Run To Win: The Training Secrets of the Kenyan Runners

Written by Jurg Wirz, a freelance journalist and author, who has visited kenyan runners training bases since 1999 in Eldoret, Kenya. There is some interesting history, about Kenya in general and about individual runners and coaches.

The book has lots of pictures and some entertaining story’s. It has also examples of training schedules that great Kenyan runners would follow during competition season.The book is available at Amazon Books
.

More Fire : How To Run The Kenyan Way

Divided into four parts, the book begins with a description of running in Kenya, the landscape, the physical conditions, and the people; the second part concentrates on details of Kenyan training camps, training methods, and their typical training diet;

the third profiles individual runners and coaches from the past and present, with each explaining their approach to running so that readers can gain further insight into their methods. The book ends with a discussion on how the reader can adapt Kenyan training practices for their own running requirements. More Fire: How to Run the Kenyan Way is essential reading for runners of all levels and experience. Available in paper back at Amazon Books

Paul Tergat : Running To The Limit

The book revolves around 34-year-old Kenyan Paul Tergat. Who has secured his place in the history books with his Marathon world record in Berlin at the end of September 2003. Today he is considered as one of the best runners of all time. At Olympic Games he won two silver medals, both times behind his friend and rival Haile Gebrselassie.

This book illustrate Tergat’s way from an unknown runner in a tiny village in Kenya to the Marathon world record holder and Dollar-millionaire. In “Running to the Limit” Paul Tergat shares a lot about his training program. “Running to the Limit” is richly illustrated with colourful photographs, many of them as yet unpublished shots from Kenya. The book is available at Amazon Books

If you asking for the amount of water you should drink before, during and after running half marathon race then this guide will help calculate the right amount.

The question how much water you should drink during a half marathon race depends on 5 factors

1. Your weight
2. How much you sweat
3. The weather of the day
4. The distance
5. Level of experience

Weight and How much water to drink

The leaner you are the less water you require. If you have watched Kenyan runners run a marathon you might noticed they don’t drink a lot of water, it could be something to do with their lean bodies.

How much you sweat
Runners who happen to have a high rate of sweating will require to drink a lot of water to replace the lost water.

The weather of the day.
When the weather is hot, the rate of sweating is high and you get dehydrated faster. At the 2007 Chicago marathon the race had to be suspended after one runner died and many marathon runners taken to hospital suffering from heat exhaustion. The temperatures were abnormally high and runners complained that there wasn’t enough water stations.

Level of Experience
While elite runner like Kenenisa Bekele can do a mad rush at 10,000 metres without additional water on the way, the same cannot be said of fun runners doing a weekend 10K family fun day.

To know exactly how much water to drink, I recommend you take a sweat test.

The more you train, the fitter you become and you body is able to use water efficiently.

After two months of training for 2009 stanchart marathon am feeling good. The last two Sundays I have run two 28K long runs, the first one turned horrible when I suffered a blurred vision near the end. Yesterday I had a strong 28K, I finished the run feeling strong.

Long run marathon training to build fitness.

Until now my training was focused on building physical and cardiovascular fitness by running a long run once per week at a slow pace. Mission accomplished!

Shifting to speed.

My goal this year is to finish the 2009 Stanchart marathon on a New PB of 2.44. I want to now start focusing my marathon training on speed work.

I am now increasing the number of training days by two days. I will be doing two midweek speed works, on Wednesday and Friday.

The speed work will be around a running track. 10 repeats of 2 x 1. That is two fast paced laps followed by a slow recovery run.The follow this with a Sunday long run.

To run like Kenyan runners you have to train like them.

The long run will no longer be a slow paced run, I plan to step up my game by increasing the pace to near my race pace. Kenyan runners are great runners because they do their long run at a race pace.

Staying Injury during training.

My biggest achievement so far has been able to stay injury free. I believe am benefiting from three years of consistent marathon training. When you run consistently over the years all that pounding tends to make your leg, ankle & heel muscles and bones strong.

When Nike+Ipod kit was introduced, Time magazine described it as the most elegant of high tech runner’s aids.

How The Nike+Ipod Kit works

The Nike+iPod Sport Kit links an in-shoe transmitter to an iPod Nano-connected receiver, so that all the facts and figures of a workout can be tracked and reviewed.

The kit relays activity from a shoe-based transmitter to a receiver dongle that plugs into the iPod Nano docking connector. (The unit is compatible, at present, with only the Nano versions of the iPod.)

Things that the Nike+Ipod Kit tracks for you

A sensor, transmitting at 2.4 GHz, detects a runner’s cadence, and a set of calibrating procedures makes a range of estimates–including time tracking, distance run, pace and calories burned–available in the iPod.

If you want some real-time feedback, a spoken alert can indicate milestones, such as lap splits or mileage, during the course of a workout. Basically, the Nano now plays host to a virtual trainer. Once your run is done, you can plug in to download the results to iTunes, where you can review performance history. By synchronizing the data on a companion Nike Web site, runners can set objectives and monitor their progress.

What is the weight of the transmitter? very very light, it won’t slow your run.

I know vegetarians are some of the most passionate people. They wouldn’t eat meat nor matter what.

Most of us runners eat meat to repair the muscle tears that happen during training. What about the vegetarian runner?Vegetarian eat the same foods day in and day out, and their diet may lack the quality required to sustain adequate energy levels for good training.

Disadvantages of Vegetarian diet for Vegetarian runners

1. Become deficient in vitamin B12 or iron
2. Feel constantly fatigued.
3. Or they might not get enough calcium, leading to poor bone health.

Can vegetarians meet their nutritional needs and still compete at their best?

A team of 24 athletes qualified to represent Kenya at World Cross Country Championships in Amman Jordan on March 28.

Husband and Wife team

It will be a family affair for Moses Mosop and his wife Florence Kiplagat. Mosop, who won the senior men’s 12km race at the national championships on Saturday, and Kiplagat, senior women’s 8km champion, were included in the team of 24 athletes.

Runner who couldn’t run in shoes finally makes the team.

If you thought using running shoes was automatic, you are wrong. Another interesting story from the team is that of Country boy Paul Tanui (19) He was removed from last year’s team to Edinburgh because he had no experience in running in shoes.

“Previously the shoes made me feel uncomfortable. That is why the coach asked me to go home,” he told the press The boy learnt from his weakness and Tanui has since been running using shoes. One year down the line, he has perfected it and taken the battle to his opponents.

This year’s Lewa marathon will take place on Saturday June 27 at the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, Samburu District, Kenya

This is a marathon that is ideal to a marathon runner seeking adventure, something different from the norm of road running. It is held inside a wildlife park. I remember last year the start was delayed because a lion had encroached on the route, the stewards had to use an helicopter to send it back. Living up to the official Motto “Run Wild”

The deadline for registration will be on May 15, 2009.

Good Reason why you should register early

The entries are limited to minimise damage on the ecosystem. The marathon has a limit of 750 runners. The organisers have said entries will be accepted on a first come first served basis.

Events at Lewa Marathon

Full marathon

Half marathon

Children fun run

Where you can register

For Overseas Runner Entry forms please visit the Tusk Trust website.

For those in Kenya visit Lewa Marathon website.

If you dont want to run but want to attend as a spectator you are also required to fill the spectator application form.

Other elite runners at Haile Gebrselassie running clinics were Paul Tergat and Robert “Mwafrika” Cheruiyot. While Paul and Haile monopolised attention, Robert remained in the background. I even didn’t know he was around until someone called him out.

Robert has been one of my favourite athletes, he has won 4 boston marathon and one Chicago marathon and he was my bet to win the gold at 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Why he dropped out of Beijing games

With the media focused on Haile and Paul I had him to myself. My first question was what happened at Beijing. He told me it was a case of overtraining. He really wanted to win the gold at Beijing and so he had pushed himself hard only to suffer a thigh injury close to the games that refused to heal on time.

About that famous fall at 2006 chicago marathon.

It was all bad luck! This was refreshing in an age when people are suing for even minor things.

Attacking the Haile Gebrselassie marathon record

He wants to break Haile Gebreselassie marathon record, hopefully at the world championship in August at Berlin, Germany.

If he breaks it in Berlin it will interesting to see what Samuel Wanjiru and Martin Lel will do at London marathon in September because that is the date they have set to crack Gebrselassie record and bring it back to Kenya.

As we were taking the above photo he pointed to the green grounds inside Nyayo National Stadium and noted that when he started running that ground was all dust.

8 years after he started running he has won 4 boston marathons and made lots of cash from running: Not bad for a man who started out as a barber.

Last week something interesting happened at Eldoret Discovery half marathon. The runners had an agonizing time after the race was restarted due to a false start. The 495 runners had covered 3 kms when the race was stopped and the runners had to start all over again.